BESTO SHOW THE PIZZA FORUM

PMQ dropped in on Middleby Marshall’s traveling pizza event in Philadelphia and Fairfield, New Jersey to learn about the hottest new equipment in the industry.

The traveling Pizza Forum recently drew pizzeria owners and pizza chefs from around New Jersey and the Philadelphia region to explore the fastgrowing world of pizza equipment technology. From high-tech ovens and mixers to slicers, fryers, sauces and toppings, the Pizza Forum helps pizza makers better understand how volume, space, fuel source and pizza type factor into purchasing the best equipment and ingredients for their kitchens.

The Pizza Forum visits foodservice distributors and offers demonstrations around the country, with recent stops at Pecinca Ferri in Fairfield, New Jersey, and One Source in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. “What’s wonderful about this is that we have many different [pizzeria] operators coming in with their own situations, looking for solutions,” said Stephanie Martin of Marsal Pizza Ovens. “We have all different types of vendors, from single-pie to multiple-pie solutions—like TurboChef, Doyon, Marsal and Middleby Marshall—and a vast array of products to check out. Operators can also bring in their own products and make pizzas. They can get it all done in one place.”

Chef Nicholas Mercogliano of Pecinka Ferri even demonstrated how to make his famous pepperoni roll bouquet, inspired by one of his favorite foods from childhood. “As a child, I used to go to my grandfather’s house on 86th Street in Brooklyn,” Mercogliano recalled. “Down the street was a place called Papa Mike’s. We would always get the pepperoni rolls—that was one of our favorite items there.”

Mercogliano said he created his own version of the pepperoni rolls at an earlier Pizza Forum event. “I didn’t have an actual sheet pan in my hands, so I just took a round tin and stacked them in there, proofed them and baked them, and it came out as a pepperoni roll bouquet. It was actually pretty cool.”

PMQ dropped in on both the Pecinca Ferri and One Source forums to learn more about the hottest moneymaking technologies and products in the pizza world. Check out our staff’s product reviews and watch video interviews with industry leaders at pmq.com/pizzaforum to learn more!

Exclusive Video Coverage

To learn more about the equipment and products displayed at the Pizza Forum, watch our exclusive video interviews with representatives from the industry’s leading manufacturers and distributors at pmq.com/pizzaforum.

STEVE’S PICKS

—Steve Green, Publisher

TURBOCHEF

TurboChef’s Double-Batch oven is one of the company’s latest and greatest impingement technology ovens. You can independently control the bake on each batch with a single controller. Equipped with both manual and menu modes, this oven uses catalytic converter technology, doing away with the need for a hood vent. At 100% airflow, you can bake pizzas up to 16” in 2 ½ to 3 minutes. turbochef.com

STANISLAUS

Stanislaus has been around since the 1940s, so they’re easily one of the best-known pizza sauce companies in the country. Their canning process, from harvesting to sealing, takes place within six hours to ensure optimal freshness of the product. They offer everything from whole-peeled tomatoes to strips, ground and purees, as well as pizza sauces like the Full-Red, Saporito and Super Dolce. stanislaus.com

MARSAL

Pizza Ovens

The Wave oven from Marsal is ideal as a front-of-the-house oven for making artisan pizzas and breads. The Wave’s live flame provides a solid alternative to wood-burning ovens, which require a lot of labor and are tightly regulated in some communities. With the Wave, you can add wood chips in the back of the oven to get that smoky flavor without all the extra work of dealing with a wood-fired oven. marsalovens.com

LINDA’S PICKS

—Linda Green, Co-Publisher

Fontanini Foods

We found a variety of high-quality meat toppings from Fontanini, a division of Hormel, including sausages and pepperonis that will make your meat pizzas excellent. Thanks to the company’s integration into Hormel, Fontanini now has a more extensive selection of pepperoni, from industry favorites like cup-andchar, a favorite for Detroit-style pizza, to random-slice and even Mexican choriza for pizzerias that serve Southwestern-style pizza. fontanini.com, hormel.com

VARIMIXER

We watched a demonstration of this mixer and were impressed. It’s an innovative piece of equipment with a safety feature—a guard rail—that makes it an excellent choice. Once the rail is removed, the machine shuts down automatically. Made of stainless steel, this mixer is an easy-to-clean system. It has no latches, is easy to operate, and you can change the speed without stopping the machine. varimixer.com

Globe Food Equipment

I found this stunning Old World-style red slicer to be a real showpiece, perfect for placing in the front of the house to show the fresh quality of the meats being sliced for your pizzas. We watched it perform on some prosciuttio and really enjoyed seeing how this beautiful machine works. It’s also great for slicing charcuterie, and it can be rolled from table to table to show it off. globefoodequip.com

Middleby Marshall

We caught a whiff of some delicious pizza being made on Middleby Marshall’s Wow! Oven. This conveyor oven is equipped with an inverter, which is like a turbo charger for your car. It increases the air speed, so you get a speedy bake with a smaller footprint and more throughput than many ovens on the market. The Wow! Ovens can be stacked up to three or four high to save space, which is important if you’ve got limited kitchen space for your ovens. middmarshall.com